America was first peopled by Norwegians, and the northern countries of
Europe, formerly so populous and enterprising. They considered the route
by Iceland and Greenland, where the sea is covered with ice and snow, as
the most easy and practicable. They affirm, that colonies were planted in
Greenland, by adventurers from the north of Europe; that the north-west
coast of Greenland is removed at no great distance from America, and that
it is not improbable these two territories may, in places yet
undiscovered, be contiguous. In support of which conjecture, an affinity
between the language of the Esquimaux Indians and that of the
Greenlanders has been discovered by modern Danish travellers. It is
asserted, that they understand each other in their commercial
intercourses. Besides, so great is their likeness in features and
manners, in their boats and darts, that late geographers have not
scrupled to believe that the lands are united, as the inhabitants of both
sides so manifestly appear to be descended from the same nation.

Other writers, with greater probability and reason, suppose, that the
western continent must have received its first inhabitants from the
north-east parts of Asia and Europe. Some ancient Greek historians say,
that the Scythians, from whom the Tartars derived their origin, were all
painted from their infancy, and that they flayed the heads of their
enemies, and wore their scalps, by way of triumph, at the bridles of
their horses. Sophocles speaks of having the head shorn, and of wearing a
skull-cap, like the Scythians. These indeed bear a faint resemblance to
some customs of the Indian tribes in America; but late discoveries
furnish us with the best proofs in favour of this conjecture. Some
Russian adventurers, on the sea of Kamschatka, have discovered the coast
of America, and reported, that the distance between the two continents is
so small and inconsiderable, that a passage between them, at certain
seasons, is easy and practicable, and that, though it be yet uncertain,